VIDEO Stand Firm – Marks of a Real Church

Stand Firm

Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. Matthew 16:3

Jesus called out the religious leaders of His day who asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. He rebuked them, saying they could read the signs of the weather but could not read the signs of the times (Matthew 16:1-4).

That wasn’t all Jesus said about signs of the times. When His disciples asked Him what would be the signs (indicators) of the end of the age, He gave them many (Matthew 24; Luke 21). And the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy about the signs of godlessness in the last days prior to Christ’s return—things like loving pleasure more than loving God and a long list of others (2 Timothy 3:1-5). Given the signs that Paul mentions, all of which have to do with personal character and behavior, the world seems headed for a downward crisis.

Keep your eyes on culture and on Christ at the same time. As the one deteriorates, the nearness of the Other increases. Prepare to stand firm and faithful until the end.

We are not to require “signs,” but we are to regard signs. Ian MacPherson

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The Marks of a Real Church (Matthew 16) John MacArthur

Present in the Storm

The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Psalm 46:7

Fire swept through the home of a family of six from our church. Although the father and son survived, the father was still hospitalized while his wife, mother, and two small children were laid to rest. Unfortunately, heartbreaking events like this continue to happen again and again. When they’re replayed, so is the age-old question: Why do bad things happen to good people? And it doesn’t surprise us that this old question doesn’t have new answers.

Yet the truth that the psalmist puts forth in Psalm 46 has also been replayed and rehearsed and embraced repeatedly. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (v. 1). The conditions described in verses 2–3 are catastrophic—earth and mountains moving and sea waters raging. We shudder when we imagine being in the midst of the stormy conditions poetically pictured here. But sometimes we do find ourselves there—in the swirling throes of a terminal illness, tossed about by a devastating financial crisis, stung and stunned by the deaths of loved ones.

It’s tempting to rationalize that the presence of trouble means the absence of God. But the truth of Scripture counters such notions. “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (vv. 7, 11). He is present when our circumstances are unbearable, and we find comfort in His character: He is good, loving, and trustworthy.

By Arthur Jackson

Reflect & Pray

When did a challenge in life cause you to question if God was present? What helped to turn the situation around for you?

Father, help me to trust the truth of Your Word when it’s hard for me to sense Your care or presence.

 

What Would Jesus Do?

Luke 6:39-40

In the 1990s many Christians joined the trend of wearing small wristbands bearing the letters W.W.J.D., which stood for the question “What Would Jesus Do?” Although the fad has passed, the question is still valid. It’s designed to prompt us to consider whether our words, actions, and attitudes are an accurate reflection of the life of our Savior.

However, before we can accurately assess whether we are doing what Jesus would, we need to have a comprehensive understanding of what He said and did, as recorded in Scripture. It’s easy to take a few verses and come away with a simplistic view of the Lord. Most people are tempted to make Jesus into an image of what they want Him to be instead of trying to see the whole picture. Yes, He responded to people with love and compassion, but He also told them to stop sinning and warned them about the dangers of hell.

If we truly want to respond like Christ, it will take more than a reminder from a bracelet. We must yearn to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts” (Rom. 13:14). This means we must learn who Christ is through daily Scripture reading and pray for Him to transform our heart. That will help purify our life from sin and align our thoughts and desires with His.

Then, as we not only show His compassion and concern for the lost but also warn them of the danger they face by rejecting Him, some may be drawn to our Savior. And since “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10 NIV), we know our actions are in line with what He would do.

So Whom Shall I Fear?

“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1)

David had more than his share of opposition. His father and older brothers thought little of him. King Saul relentlessly pursued him. His generals oftentimes conspired against him. His own son tried to usurp his throne. If anyone had opportunity to trust God for deliverance, David did.

In this psalm—an anthem of trust—David reveals his special relationship with his God that buoyed him in times of trouble. As we read in our text, his Lord was his light, salvation, and strength, and so He is to us.

The Lord is my light: When we walk in His light, we do not stumble. Enemies are not able to hide in the dark and catch us by surprise. He vanquishes the darkness. “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me” (Micah 7:8; see also 1 John 1:5-7).

The Lord is my salvation: God delivers His children from physical and spiritual danger, including deliverance from the penalty of sin. “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake” (Psalm 79:9).

The Lord is the strength of my life: God is our defense, a place of refuge. “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower” (Psalm 18:2).

Even in the face of seemingly overwhelming opposition, we have no need to fear. Our focus should be on the source of deliverance rather than on the problem. “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” (Psalm 27:14). JDM

Some See God Too Small

I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

—Psalm 69:30

Worship rises or falls in any church altogether depending upon the attitude we take toward God, whether we see God big or whether we see Him little. Most of us see God too small; our God is too little. David said, “O magnify the LORD with me” (Psalm 34:3), and “magnify” doesn’t mean to make God big. You can’t make God big. But you can see Him big.

Worship, I say, rises or falls with our concept of God; that is why I do not believe in these half-converted cowboys who call God the Man Upstairs. I do not think they worship at all because their concept of God is unworthy of God and unworthy of them. And if there is one terrible disease in the Church of Christ, it is that we do not see God as great as He is. We’re too familiar with God.   WMJ021

Sovereign God, expand my vision of You today. Give me some grasp of Your majesty and declare to me Your glory. Then draw me to my knees in awe and reverential worship. Amen.

 

Be kindly affectioned one to another

Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love.—Romans 12:10.

Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous.—1 Peter 3:8.

 

Let your religion make you more considerate, more loving and attractive, more able to think of and enter into the pleasure and interests of others.

Arthur C.A. Hall.

 

Love one another in spite of your differences, in spite of your faults. Love one another, and make the best of one another, as He loved us, who, for the sake of saving what was good in the human soul, forgot, forgave, put out of sight what was bad—who saw and loved what was good even in the publican Zaccheus, even in the penitent Magdalen, even in the expiring malefactor, even in the heretical Samaritan, even in the Pharisee Nicodemus, even in the heathen soldier, even in the outcast Canaanite. It is very easy to fix our attention only on the weak points of those around us, to magnify them, to irritate them, to aggravate them; and, by so doing, we can make the burden of life unendurable, and can destroy our own and others’ happiness and usefulness wherever we go. But this was not the love wherewith Christ loved us; this is not the new love wherewith we are to love one another.

Arthur P. Stanley.

 

Lord Our Companion

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Ps. 23:4

Sweet are these words in describing a deathbed assurance. How many have repeated them in their last hours with intense delight!

But the verse is equally applicable to agonies of spirit in the midst of life. Some of us, like Paul, die daily through a tendency to gloom of soul. Bunyan puts the Valley of the Shadow of Death far earlier in the pilgrimage than the river which rolls at the foot of the celestial hills. We have some of us traversed the dark and dreadful defile of “the shadow of death” several times, and we can bear witness that the Lord alone enabled us to bear up amid its wild thought, its mysterious horrors, its terrible depressions. The Lord has sustained us, and kept us above all real fear of evil, even when our spirit has been overwhelmed. We have been pressed and oppressed, but yet we have lived, for we have felt the presence of the Great Shepherd, and have been confident that His crook would prevent the foe from giving us any deadly wound.

Should the present time be one darkened by the raven wings of a great sorrow, let us glorify God by a peaceful trust in Him.